Falling In Love
by Magicalis Writer
Summary: Lovely banner created by Atari from the-dark-arts! This story takes place after the war and reflects upon Ginny and Harry's relationship and their decisions. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

The corridors of the castle were nearly empty. Every so often Harry would hear  
footsteps, and disappear under his cloak, not wanting to hear one more  
praise. He was discharged from the Hospital Wing, walking away with a deep,  
lighting bold shaped cut that stretched across his chest, a sprained wrist,  
and a potion to soothe any pain he might feel. The last few days had gone by in  
a blur. Apparently he had suffered major blood loss, and was in shock. Harry  
never spoke to anyone who visited him. He hadn't even heard his own voice since  
he had spoken to Ginny. Once he had gotten past the portrait, and into the  
common room, he was greeted by Hermione hugging him gently. Over her shoulder,  
he saw all the Weasley's-with the exception of Percy - sitting in the Common  
Room.

"It's okay, Harry," Hermione whispered, "I explained everything."  
Harry raised a brow. _Everything? _

After many hugs and lots of  
silence, everyone went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Ron, naturally,  
grabbed nearly all the food in site, getting a hateful glare from Ginny, who  
took about three pieces of bacon from his plate. Only after Harry had two plates  
full of food, did Mrs. Weasely start serving up her own dish.

"Harry, dear, Arthur  
and I were talking, and we think it would be best if you came and stayed with us  
at the Burrow for a while." Harry raised his gaze from his plate to meet Mrs.  
Weasley's. He opened his mouth, as though about to finally speak, but nodded and smiled  
thankfully. Ginny sat far away from Harry, never looking at him. Hermione shared  
a knowing gaze with Ron, then poked Harry on the arm. _What? _he mouthed.  
Hermione was grateful that he was at least willing to communicate somehow. She  
moved her gaze towards Ginny, then him. Harry sighed quietly and shook his head.  
Everyone at the table looked up in wonder at Harry, who looked shook his head  
and played around with his remaining scrambled eggs.

"Okay," Ron  
muttered. "It's _way _to quiet."

"You know it's only going to  
get more quiet if you say that, right Ron?" Ginny stated, smiling slightly.  
Almost everyone at the table was smiling now, including Harry.

"Not  
necessarily." Hermione said, holding Ron's hand.

"See, Ron? You started  
conversation! Bravo, indeed." George said, a hint of a smile playing on his  
lips.

"It's sort of a talent of mine," Ron muttered, tilting his chin  
up proudly.

"You should do it more often," Harry suggested, his voice  
hoarse. Ginny looked him in the eye. He no longer looked confident and noble,  
but broken and innocent.

"Can I talk to you, Harry? Over there?" she  
requested.

"Nope. Whatever you say to Harry, you might as well say to  
everyone." Ron said, his ears turning red.

"What, do I need permission  
from you? I'm not little anymore, Ronald, everything I do doesn't have to be of  
your business."  
Ginny shouted, leaving the table. Harry got up and went after her.

Ginny stopped as soon as she got around the corner, Harry coming right behind  
her.

"You followed me," She stated stupidly.

"Well... yeah.  
I'm persistent." He said, smirking in spite of himself.

"I think I  
figured that out a long time ago. I wanted to say that I'm sorry." Ginny  
apologized.

"You don't need to apologize. I shouldn't have left  
you."

"You're right. You shouldn't have. But you did, and you can't  
take that back. So much has changed, and I-I feel like I don't know you as well  
as I thought."

"How about we start over?"

"I'd like that. I'm  
Ginny Weasley," Ginny greeted, shaking Harry's hand.

"Harry Potter.  
Nice to finally meet you."

A/N: Sorry it was short again. I was trying to  
figure out where to start, and this is where it seemed the most logical. Please,  
please, please review! Thanks for reading! ~Magicalis Writer


	2. Questioning A Horrid Dancer

The funerals passed by with indecent haste. At the last funeral, Lupin's and  
Tonks', Harry met Teddy. He was small, of course, and his hair turned colors  
every few seconds. His eyes were wide, and curious alternating between brown,  
grey, purple, and bright green.

"I know that you are much to young to  
take care of a baby," Andromeda Tonks murmured, looking lovingly at Teddy, "But  
I know that N- my daughter and Lupin would want him to know you. I will take  
care of him, but you have to promise that you will be in his life as much as  
possible," Harry nodded, and tickled the baby's chin. He made a promise to  
himself that he would be a better godfather than Sirius was-and that he would be  
there for Teddy when he needed him.

After the funeral, a large  
celebration was held at the Burrow.

"Hey, Harry," Hermione greeted,  
sitting down on the bench near him, "Are you going to Hogwarts next year?" Harry  
hesitated, considering her words. He was almost sure he wanted to become an  
Auror, but that was before the Horcruxes and being in hiding for nearly a year.  
What else could he be? Especially because he now had Teddy in his future, and  
Voldemort was gone, all his plans had changed.

"I'm not sure, Hermione,"  
he answered honestly, taking a swig of Butterbeer, "I wanted to be an Auror, but  
now... I'm not so sure." Hermione nodded in understanding.

"Ron is going  
back." Hermione offered helpfully, "George offered him a part-time  
job helping at the new Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes store in Hogsmeade. Also, I  
talked him into it." she smiled.

"Well, that's good. Not to mention you  
already have a date to any dance this year," Harry frowned, thinking about  
Ginny. Hermione sighed, and set down her mug of Butterbeer.

"Harry, are you sure that this  
'just friends' thing is going to work  
out with Ginny? I know that you feel more than that for her. Why don't you just  
tell her?"

"I tried, Hermione," Harry said, looking a bit frustrated,  
"But she made it pretty clear that she would like us to be friends- _just  
_friends." There was a loud boom, followed by cheering.

"Come on,  
Harry," Hermione chided, pulling on his arm, "Come and watch the  
forget I said anything." Harry nodded and allowed Hermione to half pull him into  
the yard.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ginny sat at a table, not really  
listening to Aunt Muriel ramble on about making improvements to her tiara. The  
bright green fireworks stood out vibrantly against the black sky. Ginny blinked  
the light out of her eyes, remembering Harry and Voldemort's last  
duel.

"Now, I'm sure that if I find the proper twine-"

"Aunt  
Muriel, I'm going to go talk to Harry, alright?" Not waiting for her great-aunts  
answer, she walked over to Harry and took a seat by him.

"Hey. You okay?"  
Ginny asked.

"Er, yeah. You?"

"Fine. Harry, I know that you  
probably don't want to talk about this, but I'm curious about... about what  
happened in the forest." Ginny admitted.

"I thought Hermione told  
everyone?" he inquired.

"Well, she said that you were hit with the  
Killing-curse. And I want to know why you didn't say anything to me." Ginny  
admitted, rubbing her arm. Harry looked pained for a moment, then cleared his  
throat.

"I was hit with the Killing-Curse. I didn't say good-bye to  
anyone, Gin, not just you." her nick-name on his lips made her heart flutter.  
The warm feeling that had spread through her chest, was soon replaced by  
confusion.

"Good-bye? Why would you say good-bye? Did you know what was  
going to happen?" Ginny asked, suddenly feeling infuriated.

"I didn't say  
good-bye because-" he was cut off by the sound of loud, slow  
music.

"George," Ginny sighed under her breath. People started to pair  
up, and slow dance in time to the music. Harry took Ginny's hand and led her  
around the borders of the crowd.

"Harry, I-"

"Just friends, Gin."  
Ginny highly doubted that this song was meant to be for 'just friends', but she  
let Harry hold her awkwardly. He _really _was a horrid  
dancer.

"You're _supposed _to put your right hand on my waist," She  
placed his hand on her waist, then held the other up. Once she placed the hand  
that wasn't holding his on his arm, they started revolving in slow  
circles.

"I didn't say good-bye because I knew-I thought I knew- that I  
was supposed to die. If I talked to anyone, you especially, I don't think I  
could've kept going." he continued, holding her close. Ginny took a shaky  
breath- it was hard to think when she was this close to him.

"So you let  
yourself die," she gulped, "To save everyone else?" he was silent for a moment,  
then nodded.

"But I came back," he said. "And I'm sorry that you had to  
believe that I was dead."

"Why did you come back? You must've known what  
was waiting for you," Ginny looked into his eyes, waiting for a  
reply.

"If you had the choice... would you come back?" Harry asked,  
staring at her intently. The truth was, yes she would. For her family. But Harry  
had none left- except for the Dursley's, perhaps.

"I would, but for my  
family. But you don't..." Harry smiled softly, but his framed tensed  
uneasily.

"-Have any family. It's okay, I understand. Maybe one day  
you'll realize why I came back." The friends swayed until the music stopped,  
then sat down at a table.

"I never thought of us as friends," Ginny  
admitted, looking at the glowing lights that illuminated the yard."I had a crush  
on you for the longest time... and then you kissed me. Well, I kissed you." she  
turned red at this, and ducked her head.

"I never thought of us as  
friends either. I liked you for a long time before you kissed me... I just told  
myself I couldn't, because you're Ron's little sister."

"I see. I still  
don't understand why you broke up with me. I mean, you told me a few times, but  
I still don't understand why." Ginny rambled.

"Everyone who is close to  
me ends up either hurt or dead. I can't let that happen to you." Ginny was  
silent for a moment, thinking about how Harry would blame himself for anything  
that happened to her family, or anyone getting harmed that he knew. And the sad  
thing was that his words were true. His entire family was dead. Sirius,  
Dumbledore, and Lupin- the people who tried to protect him- were dead. And now  
he had died trying to protect everyone else, which was _not fair. _Ginny  
had almost forgotten that Harry was only seventeen. He seemed much older and  
hardly had any fun.

"No one blames you for anything, Harry." Ginny said  
softly. Harry still wouldn't meet her gaze. His hair covered his eyes, making it  
impossible to figure out what he was thinking. "This summer we're going to act  
like normal teenagers. Who are wizards and witches," she said as an  
after-thought. Harry smiled.

"I'd like that." Ginny looked at him for a  
moment like something was bugging her then stood up, with her hands on her  
hips.

"Okay, let's begin with 'Mission Number One'... a  
haircut."

A/N: So there's another chapter! Again, I am sorry that this is  
short... I've had a bad case of writer's block, and with the holidays behind us  
I should be writing and posting more. Please review, and thank you so much for  
reading!


	3. Confessions and Parchment

Harry couldn't sleep that night. He knew that if he fell asleep, nightmares would haunt him and he would wake up the entire Burrow with his shouting. So, he slipped on his Invisibility Cloak and padded downstairs and out of the house. It was surprisingly warm for late May. The crickets sang softly and the trickle of the pond was calming. Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak and lay back, looking at the stars. He actually had no idea what was going to happen in the future. There was Teddy to consider and if he would go back to school, if he were to be with Ginny… Harry shook his head, and sat up. He defeated one of the most powerful wizard's in the world, but he couldn't admit to a girl that he was falling for her? He ripped pieces of grass out of the ground, feeling tears cascading down his face. Not for Ginny, but in both relief and frustration. If he had defeated Voldemort sooner, many people wouldn't have died. And all along he was the one keeping Voldemort alive. Harry still felt sick to think about Voldemort being inside of him. Well, his soul anyway.

"Harry," a voice said softly. Harry fumbled for his wand, but stopped once he saw who had said his name. "Are you okay?" It was Ginny, wearing plaid pajama bottoms and a Quidditch jersey that was much to big. Harry, nor trusting his voice, nodded and placed his head on his knees. Ginny sat down on the grass near him, also placing her chin on her legs.

"Harry… you're crying." Ginny stated, looking at him closely. Harry wiped his arm across his face, taking a shaky breath.

"Sorry," he murmured, his voice breaking.

"Don't apologize. You're the only one in the house who hasn't broken down yet. Mum and I figured that you were in shock." Ginny admitted. Harry smiled a bit, and nodded.

"It's just that… after losing Sirius I learned that it doesn't help to lock myself away from everyone. Or crack up. Crying doesn't help much, either." Harry said, shrugging.

"It's better to let it out… I remember how- sorry, there's no other way to say this, but, - moody you were the year after you lost him. You aren't alone, Harry. You have people who care for you. I care for you." Harry took a deep breath.

"I have something to say to you, Gin." Harry whispered, "And I don't know if you feel the same way, but… I'm falling for you, Ginny Weasley." Harry felt better once the words were out, but didn't dare look at Ginny's face. She didn't move or reply for a while, which made Harry wonder if that was the wrong thing to say.

"I feel the same way about you- but I have no idea what to do about it. Everything is so complicated." Ginny replied, leaning her head on Harry's shoulder. Harry almost laughed with happiness, but instead settled for a large, tired smile.

"It always is, Gin. And I wish that it were different, but honestly it's not. I don't think it will ever be simple…" Harry said softly.

"Probably not. I think that we should take our relationship slow. I want to take my time with this relationship. And I want you to understand that. But that should wait till later this morning- it's almost one a.m.," Ginny yawned, standing up. Harry stood up after her, looking drowsy. "Do you think you'll get any sleep tonight?" Ginny asked, looking pitiful.

"Maybe," Harry replied, feeling better now that he had cried. The two went back to their rooms, and fell asleep almost immediately.

Mrs. Weasley woke early that morning to find and owl standing at the window perch. It held a plain white envelope in its beak, which Molly took and opened. Inside was a letter written in very fancy handwriting. It read:

"Dear Mrs. Weasley,

You probably don't know who I am directly. My name is Petunia Evans, Harry's aunt. My son and I had just heard that he had defeated Lord Voldemort, and we would like to send him our 'Congratulations,' This is completely and entirely you and you're family's choice, but we would be happy to see him again. Please send your reply, via owl, as I have grown used to using them instead of the post.

Sincerely,

Ms. Petunia Evans"

Mrs. Weasley was dumb-founded. She had heard terrible things about that _family_, but she hadn't seen her nephew in nearly a year. Another thing that confused Mrs. Weasley was her surname… had she divorced her husband? She made a mental note to show Harry the letter later, then started on breakfast.

Ginny woke up to the smell of pancakes and bacon, which was, in Ginny's opinion, the best way to wake up. She padded down the stairs, not bothering to wash up.

"It smells wonderful mother," Ginny praised, grabbing a plate. Hermione was up, writing on parchment, and by the looks of it, Ron was sleeping in that morning.

"Okay, it's almost summer- you _cannot _possibly be doing school work, Hermione." Ginny sighed.

"It's not school work, Ginny. It's electives for my seventh year at Hogwarts. Do you know if Ron's up?" Hermione asked. Ginny shook her head, and stood up from the table.

"I'll go check," _'-if Harry's alright,' _Ginny finished in her head. Ginny tiptoed up the stairs, and opened Ron's door a crack. Ron was snoring loudly, as usual, and Harry was asleep on a cot, looking young and innocent. Ginny smiled as she closed the door.

A/N: So, what did you think? Thanks for reading and review for another chapter! ~Magicalis Writer


	4. Flowers and Pictures

Harry knocked on the door of his Aunt's new residence. It was a pretty house, on the outskirts of London. It was one story tall with large, beautiful windows. The walls on the outside were painted sky blue and a large garden stretched around the entire lawn. Petunia Evans pulled open the door, smiling down at her nephew. She was wearing her graying hair in a braid, and was dressed in a green, floral dress. She looked incredibly happy.

"Hello, Harry, it's lovely seeing you again! Come in and sit down-I've just made tea."

The two sat down at the small, white table and there was a comfortable silence for nearly a minute.

"I know that this is a bit rude, but… what happened to Vernon?" Harry asked, looking a bit nervous. Petunia took a deep breath and sat down her teacup.

"I realized what he was shortly after we left the house. He was a rude, bossy man… I could say that I was blinded by my jealousy like I said earlier… But that's a lie. I was stupid, and the wizards and witches made me realize that. I divorced him a few months later." Harry didn't know how to reply.

"I would say that I'm sorry… but it seems like it's for the best." He answered hesitantly. Petunia nodded seriously.

"It was, Harry. Another thing I would like to talk to you about is your birthday." Harry groaned, and tilted his head back. It was in a week, and the last thing he wanted was for anyone to make a big deal out of the event.

"It's in a week, and I was wondering why I didn't receive an invitation." Petunia said, looking a bit hurt.

"Well, I didn't really invite anyone. I was hoping that everyone would forget." Harry admitted, rubbing his arm guiltily.

"You're not like most teens Harry. Most of them would advertise the event… I know that Dudley always made a big deal out of his." Petunia smiled. Harry laughed at this, remembering the thirty or forty presents that awaited him in the morning.

"Yeah, I remember. And the trip to the zoo… probably something I'll never forget."

"I remember that. Vernon was furious, of course. But all the while Dudley deserved it." Harry looked at his Aunt like she had gone crazy, then smiled happily.

"You've changed a lot, haven't you?" he asked rhetorically.

"We all have, Harry."

With a small 'pop', Ginny Apparated into Godric's Hallow. Her mother had taken her to the house many times, as a reminder of how luck she was. The rusted gate creaked a bit as she opened it.

"Potter Cottage," Ginny whispered to herself. The bottom floor of the house looked unharmed. The second floor was partly collapsed. Ginny could see how her mother had not wanted to enter the house...

The door creaked as it opened, but Ginny still stepped in. It looked like regular family home. An old couch sat near the window. Baby toys were scattered about the floor, and there were many pictures hanging around the room. This was exactly what Ginny was looking for. Since Harry's birthday was very soon, she had an idea of what he would like-something from his other family, his real one. Some of the pictures showed a young Lily and James, who looked almost exactly like Harry. Others showed Lily and James's wedding… Lily looked beautiful in a long, white gown… the way her eyes sparkled reminded her of Harry. Then there were some of the family, and a black cat. It was extremely odd seeing Harry that young, especially because he didn't have the lightning scar on his forehead. Ginny reached for it and stopped, feeling like an intruder. This was the house Harry had grown up in. It felt wrong to take things from it. But still, Ginny had a nagging feeling that this would mean a lot to Harry. Ginny carefully picked a few pictures-one of Harry, James, and Lily in a family portrait, another of Lily and James, arm in arm. The rest included both James with Sirius during his wedding, and Lily with James and Harry.

Ginny then continued through the house. The kitchen was everything you'd expect also-although it smelled faintly like rotten food. Ginny started up the stairs, her wand out incase she needed to keep the roof from collapsing on her.

There was a small hallway with two rooms on either side. The room on the left must've been Lily and James's. The bed was made, neatly. Everything in the room was covered in a small layer of dust. But there was a bookshelf, in which Ginny saw several journals. Ginny took one entitled "Lily" and one entitled "James", then walked out into the hallway and looked into the room that was almost entirely covered in rubble. There was a crib that looked singed, along with the walls around it. A teddy bear sat on the shelf near the door, completely unharmed. Ginny felt a tear slide down her cheek as she put it in her bag, and hurried down the stairs and out of the house.

A/N: So, what did you think? Please review and look for another chapter soon! ~Magicalis Writer


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